Windows 10 - So Far So Good But Pay Attention To The Install!

[DougGuy]

So the impending doom is decended upon us and it's time to upgrade.. Well, not nowhere near that bad.. When you run the install of this new OS, two things are necessary to pay attention to and make the right choices. First, choose to "Install Windows 10", check this box, and choose to "Keep Personal Files And Apps" these two should already be checked by default. Leaving these checked will let Windows 10 migrate itself onto your machine and it will remember and keep all your bookmarks, installed applications, it keeps all your customized desktop settings, it will even remember your previous browsing session in Firefox and restore that if you want it to!



The next part of the install (I will try and get some screenshots of this) the screen will come up and it will have a choice of "Express Settings" down at the lower right, over on the left it will say "Customize Your Settings" or somethiing like that, DO NOT choose EXPRESS! Choosing Express will let the installer turn ON all the bloatware and cr@p that M$ wants to install and it will want to share your pictures, videos, share your location, your contacts, it will want to auto-connect to any WiFi access point it finds, OMG the pure bullch1t that comes packed into Windows 10 and set to run by default!

Instead, choose and click on "Customize" over on the left and it will walk you through a bunch of screens where you can use your mouse and turn OFF a bunch of the settings that are turned ON by default. You might want to turn off everything except the automatic updates, and to report problems to Microsoft, those are two good ones. You will see how ridiculous some of the things they have turned on are, pretty sad really..

Then you will come to a screen with 4 choices where you can turn off everything BUT the "Edge" which is I guess Internet Explorer 12? I kept the Edge, even though I am a FF user.

Once the installer finishes with Windows 10 and you are up and running, there are more settings that can be tweaked, things you can turn off or uninstall but that's not the scope of this post. I posted this to guide unsuspecting users through this install so that the obvious is nipped in the bud and not allowed to take over your computer and foist all your photos and data and contacts all over the web for no good purpose that I can see.

First thing, if you like your XP or Win 7 start menu, go get Classic Shell and install it, it's free and it gets rid of the horrid Metro screen in Win 8 and 8.1, this thing's a true gem!

http://www.classicshell.net/

Then if you want to explore a bit, here is 4 pages of stuff I found fairly useful to help you get around under the hood a bit and make Windows 10 behave like it should:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/28756...ks.html#slide1

http://www.pcworld.com/article/29527...10.html#slide1

http://www.pcworld.com/article/28744...out-first.html

And finally, no it is not a total fix for everything M$ managed to break in previous windows releases:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/29498...out-broke.html

Enjoy boys and girls, I will try and get some screenshots of an install where I can more or less do a walk-thru and show you exactly what *I LIKE* to turn off during the install and then what I like to do afterwards so that my machine behaves (and looks) not much unlike an older Windows XP machine..

[ShooterAZ]

I installed it, simple with no problems. You can go to settings/privacy and you will have 13 options to turn on or off if anything that is disturbing to you. I had no problems with 8.1, but decided to go ahead and get 10. It's a huge download...so make sure your computer is capable of handling it.

[jonp]

Thanks. I have a little window notice thing I put on my computer some time ago that will let Microsoft notify me when the new system has been auto downloaded to install but it has not done so yet. Can I go to Micro and do it manually or do I have to wait for them to notify me?

[SciFiJim]

You can download and install the upgrade now if you wish.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/1/908...d-how-to-guide

I am currently at 70% on the upgrade on my laptop. I will wait for the first service patch before I install it on my desktop machine. The laptop is not critical if it melts down, the desktop is.
This will also give me the chance to put it through its paces before upgrading my main computer.

[DougGuy]

You can download it directly from Microsoft. Use the Media Creation Tool to download it onto your PC and then install it, you can also choose to save it and convert it to an .iso file. This is how I installed it on two machines here, and I ran the tool again and then saved the file as an .iso that I can burn to a DVD+R disc.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...n-tool-install

[dragon813gt]

Lots of reports of driver issues already. Forcing updates is going to lead to a lot of problems w/ third party software and hardware. Especially if they force their drivers on you. If they don't do an about face on the automatic mandatory updates I won't be using Windows once they strop supporting 8.1. I don't want to stop using Windows but forcing updates rubs me the wrong way.

[SciFiJim]

I got the update finished. I don't care for the look and feel of Win10 yet. I will give it a week of so to grow on me. If it doesn't, I will roll my laptop back to Win7. I did a complete system backup before I started the upgrade process.

[DougGuy]

Install Classic Shell it works great.

[MaryB]

I am not going through the fight to rewrite the laser engraver driver to make it work again. I fought with it for a week before it ran right on Win 7!

[dragon813gt]

I am not going through the fight to rewrite the laser engraver driver to make it work again. I fought with it for a week before it ran right on Win 7!

You won't be able to win the fight w/ 10 because it forces the driver it sees fit upon you.

I do second Classic Shell or an app like it. I use one called Start8. Everything is back where you'd expect it to be and you have a start button. Figured they would have brought it back w/ 10 because everyone complains about not having it. Glad they listen.

[tygar]

I'm screwed. I lost bookmarks, can't find tools or any dam thing else. Need to undo this & start over if I can. I hate this computer crp!

[imashooter2]

L

You won't be able to win the fight w/ 10 because it forces the driver it sees fit upon you.

I do second Classic Shell or an app like it. I use one called Start8. Everything is back where you'd expect it to be and you have a start button. Figured they would have brought it back w/ 10 because everyone complains about not having it. Glad they listen.

Well that leaves me out. I'm still running an HP 1012 with cobbled drivers under 7. I'm not throwing that printer away until it breaks.

[jcwit]

I downloaded it on the 29th IIRC, was unable to find my fav's or most anything. Took it to a computer shop I deal with, he showed me how to navigate the system, I had lost nothing at all, asked for $10 bucks, gave him 20.

So far I really like it.

[tryNto]

So far, Nothing but happy.
Speed of operation is greatly increased.

[pressonregardless]

Has anyone found that 10 does anything better than XP ?

[ShooterAZ]

It's much faster, and audio & video are vastly improved. Also, it is still supported by Microsoft. Other than that, I'm still in the learning process. No big deal so far. I did not lose anything when I downloaded it. Still had my original screensaver.

[CGT80]

MS can keep Win10.

The change from XP to 8.1 was bad enough. Classic start menu makes it usable and it runs great on my new build with a SSD. I did have to uninstall the update they used to advertise win 10. There was no way to completely dismiss the update dialogue, and I hate advertisers. If they had let me permanently do away with the icon by clicking that I decline to upgrade, it would have not been a big deal.

Someone on Calguns posted some of the privacy/security issues with win10 and it looks typical of the direction software companies are going. Most software companies could care less about privacy of information and they do just enough to cover their butts. Unfortunately there seems to be great business with using or sharing data and many people don't mind putting their lives on a billboard for others to see.

MS wants to force you into changes and wants access to your info and Google/Android has done the same. They push out software without really testing it and they no longer leave options to customize the look to what you want. Maybe win 10 gives more freedom to set the look, but the privacy issues and their reputation with the previous versions are enough for me to stay with 8.1. If I ever see that metro or tile **** again, it will be too soon.

I don't need touch screen, voice commands, apps, games, and I don't do facebook or any other social site like that and can do without their cloud setup. I use Firefox for browsing and sync to my tablet and phone, from my desktop.

Free is not free! I don't do any surveys, giveaways, contests, etc. because there is something in it for the other party and it usually involves the participants being advertised to. There is a reason MS is giving away Win 10, but I am not exactly sure what it is, and Win 10 would just have it's own set of issues to deal with. I don't recall having any major problems with using win XP, other than the fact it wasn't as fast or stable as 8.1, and it was not geared toward all of this internet connected sharing ****. Man do I feel old, at 34 years of age. I started with DOS 3.0 IIRC. How things have changed..........

[dragon813gt]

People need to face the facts. Desktops are dying for personal use. Businesses will continue to use them. But they are almost dead in the home. This leaves laptops, tablets and phones. All of which work great w/ a touchscreen. I can imagine the frustration of trying to use 8 w/out a touchscreen. But w/ a touchscreen laptop it works great. Even in desktop mode which isn't designed entirely for it.

It also makes sense for them to have one OS that works across multiple formats. No one likes change at first. Hopefully it works out to be a great OS. I have my doubts as long as they force updates on people. Even Apple is not dumb enough to do this as they know there will be a lot of bugs at first.

[pressonregardless]

All of which work great w/ a touchscreen. I can imagine the frustration of trying to use 8 w/out a touchscreen. But w/ a touchscreen laptop it works great.

Evidently MS thinks everyone using a notebook these days uses it like a facebook toy, I
would do anything to be able to turn this 'swipe' function off on my Asus notebook. My
notebook does not have touchscreen, what it does have is a swipe function that if you
touch the touchpad in a certain way, the text may become microscopic, or full blow poster size.
Whoever thought this was good idea should be horsewhipped. I deal with 150-200 emails a day
along with 25-30 multi page spreadsheets, I do not need the size of the text to expand & contract
due to my making contact with the touchpad. I have just about worn the paint off the CTRL +/- keys.

[DougGuy]

I would do anything to be able to turn this 'swipe' function off on my Asus notebook.

I like to use a wireless mouse with a laptop, I dislike touchpads. If you use a mouse you can probably turn off the touchpad in the machine's cmos settings.

Then there is this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thre...ndows8.700550/